Highway safety guard rail



June 4, 1963 v. A. KNUDSEN ,3

Y HIGHWAY SAFETY GUARD RAIL.

Filed Dec. 27; 1960 H4. w a;

INVENTOR VAGN A. KNUDSEN hou 2 4i av K 13 United States Patent 3,092,371HIGHWAY SAFETY GUARD RAIL Vagn A. Knudsen, North Burnaby, BritishColumbia, Canada, assignor to Graybar Precast Limited, British Columbia,Canada, a corporation Filed Dec. 27, 1960, Ser. No. 78,439 3 Claims.(Cl. 256--13.1)

My invention relates to improvements in highway safety guard rail.

This invention relates to a guard rail or fence of the type normallyprovided along a stretch of highway to prevent vehicles fromaccidentally leaving the road surface.

The objects of the invention are to provide a guard rail having asurface which when struck by a vehicle wheel will tend to swing saidwheel parallel thereto and simultaneously apply a braking or retardingforce which will assist in bringing the vehicle to a stop.

Further objects are to provide a guard rail which does not require theuse of posts to support it in position and anchor it to the roadbed, andto provide means for locking the rail sections together in end to endrelation, so that they cannot become separated even under heavy impact.

Referring to the accompanying drawings:

FIGURE 1 is an elevation of one end of the guard rail.

FIGURE 2 is a plan of the same.

FIGURE 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the abutting ends of tworail sections connected together by a locking block.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged transverse section taken on the line 4-4 ofFIGURE 1.

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of the locking block.

FIGURE 6 is a transverse section of a modified form of the invention.

FIGURE 7 is a perspective view of a locking block used with the modifiedguard of FIGURE 6.

FIGURE 8 is a longitudinal section showing a. modification of thelocking block.

FIGURE 9 is a modified form of locking means for the blocks.

In the drawings like characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in each figure.

The guard rail, generally indicated by the numeral 10, is made ofconcrete which is suitably reinforced with steel bars, not shown, toprovide an extremely rugged structure capable of withstanding heavyimpact. The guard is precast prior to shipment to the road site and forconvenience in handling etc. it is made in sections 11 which may vary inlength for difierent installations.

Each section 11 is substantially triangular in cross section and has aninner wall 14 and an outer wall 15. The wall 15 is disposed at a greaterangle to the vertical axis of the section than the wall 14, thusproviding a broad base 16 and the upper edge of the section is roundedas at 17. The wall 14 has a curved inner or tratfic face 20 which mergesinto the rounded edge 17 and terminates at a tire groove 21. The groove21 is formed in the lower edge of the wall 14 and has a vertical innerface 22 and an upwardly inclined top face 23. Defined between the walls14 and 15 is a channel 26 which is partly closed off by transverse endwalls 27. The lower edge 28 of each end wall 27 is spaced above the base16 of the section and the inner face of said end wall is inclinedinwardly as at 29. Adjacent the ends of each section 11 the walls 14 and15 are provided with drain slots 30 which permit moisture to dischargefrom the channel 26.

The guard rail has end members 35 which are constructed of the samematerial as the sections 11 and are provided with a similar tire groove36 and an end wall 37. The rounded upper edge 39 of each end member 35slopes down to a bull-nosed end 40, as shown in FIG- 'ice URE l, andsaid end is provided with a vertical opening 41 to receive an. anchorpin 42. In FIGURE 2 it will be seen that the member 35 is also taperedtowards the end 40.

In order to fasten the sections 11 together and to the end members 35,precast reinforced concrete locking blocks 45 are used. The blocks 45have side faces 46 and 47 which are inclined from the vertical to thesame extent as the walls 14 and 15 respectively of the sections 11. Agroove 49 extends transversely across each locking block 45 and saidgroove has opposing side faces 50 which are inclined to the same degreeas the inner faces 29 of the end walls 27 on the sections 11.

The modified form of the guard rail shown in FIGURE 6 is made up ofsections 56 having inclined side walls 57, a channel 58 and end walls59. Each side wall 57 of a section 56 has a curved traffic face 60 andsaid wall is provided with a tire groove 61. The locking blocks 64 usedto connect the sections 56 are designed to be loosely housed within thechannel 58 and are provided with a groove 66 in which the end walls 59are received.

As shown in FIGURE 8 only, a modified locking block 70 may be used toconnect the sections 11. The block 70 is a precast reinforced concretestructure having a fiat top face 71 and extending above said top faceare longitudinally spaced vertical dowels 72. The end wall 27 would beprovided with corresponding openings 74 to receive the dowels 72 as thesections 11 are placed together in end to end relation. Obviously thesections 56 could also be connected together by use of the modifiedblock 70.

In the modification of FIGURE 9 the end walls 27 of the sections 11extend down to the plane of the base '16 and one of the end walls isprovided with a recess 80. Embedded in the end wall is a. U-shaped bar81 and the ends of said bar are formed into eyes 82 which project intothe recess 80. The opposite end wall of the section has a U-shaped bar84, the ends of which project beyond the outer face of the wall and areupwardly turned to form hooks 85. When the sections are abutted in endto end relation the hooks 85 of one section are received in the eyes 82of an adjoining section so as to lock the several sections together as aguard rail.

The safety guard rail 10 is erected at the roadsite by assembling thesections 11 in end to end relation with a locking block 45 disposedbetween the abutting ends of the sections. As an end of a section islowered on to a locking block the inclined faces on the section engagethe corresponding inclined faces of the block and the several facescoact or provide a wedging section which ensures that the two membersare properly aligned and interlocked. The end walls 27 are housed withinthe grooves 49 and the ends of the blocks 45 are enclosed within thechannels 26. In this position the sections cannot be moved relative toone another to any appreciable extent either laterally or longitudinallyand can only be disconnected from the block by being lifted vertically.

It will be noticed, particularly in FIGURES 3 and 4, that a very slightclearance is provided between the adjoining faces of the blocks and thesections. In addition the end faces of the sections are beveled as at Xand Y, see FIGURE 2 only. Thus the sections may be laid down slightlydisaligned from one another as would be necessary to form an arcuateguard rail extending parallel along either an inside or an outside curveon the highway.

To complete the rail 10 the end members 35 are added to the ends thereofas shown in FIGURES 1 and 2. The end wall 37 is butted against anadjoining wall 27 and is lodged in the groove 49 of a block 45 toconnect the two parts together. An anchor pin 42 is then driven througheach opening 41 to secure the member 35 to the roadbed.

Where a center or dividing strip is required for the road,

the'm'odified form of the rail of FIGURE 6 is used. The sections 56 arelaid down end to end and are connected together by the locking blocks 64in the manner previously described. Suitably shaped end members, notshown, would beadded to the sections forming the center stripand'thesemembers would be'secured to the roadbed in the same manner as"the members 35.

An out of control car normally strikes the guard rail 10 at a fairlyacute angle rather't'han head on'and'the front *Wheel'of the vehicle inengaging the traffic face of "said rail is swung parallel thereto sothat the car tends to straighten out and continue along theroad'surface. At 'this'time'the'outsid'e wheels of the car are scraping alongthe curved faces 20 of the sections and -the lower portions of thetires' are partially enteredintothe grooves 21. The

"inclinedtop face 23 of the groove 21 applies a braking force to thetires which eventually will bring the ca-r'to a halt or at least enablethe driver to regain control. The sections 56 forming the c'en-ter stripwill similarly prevent 'the car from leaving its own lane and 'Willassist in V-shaped channel, a transverse Wall at each end of eachsection having its lower edge spaced above the base and having aninwardly inclined inner face, locking blocks supported upon the roadsurface and connecting the adjoining ends of the sections, each of thelocking blocks being partly housed within the inverted V-shaped channelsof adjoining sections and having a groove in which the adjoiningtransverse Walls of the sections are received said locking blocks eachhaving inclined side and grooves faces which coact with the abuttinginclined faces on adjoining sections to align said sections and wedgethem together against longitudinal lateral displacement.

2. A highway safety guard rail as claimed in claim 1, one of said sidewalls of each section having a curved traffic face and a tire groove,said tire groove of each section being disposed adjacent the base of thesection.

3. A highway safety guard rail as claimed in claim 1,

one of said side walls of each section having a curved traific face anda' tire groove, said tire groove of -each section being disposedadjacent the base of the section and having a vertical inner face and anupwardly inclined top face.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS776,4'19 Platt Nov. 29, 1904 2,065,861 Lines Dec. 29, 1936

1. A HIGHWAY SAFETY GUARD RAIL COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF SECTIONSDISPOSED IN END TO END RELATION UPON A ROAD SURFACE, EACH SECTION HAVINGSLOPING SIDE WALLS WHICH DIVERGE DOWNWARDLY TO A BROAD ROAD ENGAGINGBASE, SAID SIDE WALLS OF EACH SECTION DEFINING A SUBSTANTIALLY INVERTEDV-SHAPED CHANNEL, A TRANSVERSE WALL AT EACH END OF EACH SECTION HAVINGITS LOWER EDGE SPACES ABOVE THE BASE AND HAVING AN INWARDLY INCLINEDINNER FACE, LOCKING BLOCKS SUPPORTED UPON THE ROAD SURFACE ANDCONNECTING THE ADJOINING ENDS OF THE SECTIONS, EACH OF THE LOCKINGBLOCKS BEING PARTLY HOUSED WITHIN THE INVERTED V-SHAPED CHANNELS OFADJOINING SECTIONS AND HAVING A GROOVE IN WHICH THE ADJOINING TRANSVERSEWALLS OF THE SECTIONS ARE RECEIVED SAID LOCKING BLOCKS EACH HAVINGINCLINED SIDE AND GROOVES FACES WHICH COACT WITH THE ABUTTING INCLINEDFACES ON ADJOINING SECTIONS TO ALIGN SAID SECTIONS AND WEDGE THEMTOGETHER AGAINST LONGITUDINAL LATERAL DISPLACEMENT.